Friday, May 10, 2013

Tale of a Thursday elopement

Yesterday started off as a pretty normal day ... except that it was raining. In Colorado?! So ironic! (Alanis was right.)

Things got a little weird around 3, when we headed down to the county clerk office to pick up this phony-looking Old West–style thing:

We had a little time to kill before our 5:15 appointment with the judge, so we swung by Beast & Bottle on 17th for a little liquid courage.

The bartender there used to work at Encore – our favorite spot in Denver before it closed – and called out, "Hey, Boston!" when we walked in.

The sun came out just in time.

Phew, irony-free wedding.

The judge was super nice. Whole thing took about ten minutes. I cried!

Then a funny little security guard who didn't know how cameras work took our picture:

We took advantage of the evening light and got a celebratory drink on the roof of the MCA.

Then we went to our favorite sushi place. It was delicious.

So, yep, we're married now.

Quick FAQ:

Please please don't anyone feel left out. We literally decided to get married on Monday, made the arrangements on Tuesday and told only our families. There was no one at the ceremony but us. But we love you all and want to celebrate with you when we see you.

No, we're not registered anywhere! We're also not going on a honeymoon and we don't have wedding bands yet ... I do have a lovely family ring from the Cotters that I'm going to wear once it's resized for my elfin fingers.

No, I'm not pregnant, really.

One of my most viewed blog posts is "Why I don't want to get married." In principle, I still believe all that. I also don't think our relationship will be functionally different in any real way; we've lived together for 6+ years. Here's what tipped the balance: John has been having some pretty serious health issues. If he should ever take a turn for the worse, I want to be sure I have the legal rights to see him in the hospital, make decisions, etc. I'm not getting any younger here either. So I want to be sure that the various powers that be see our relationship the same way we do, and (unfortunately) that requires making it legal. These aren't the happiest, most romantic circumstances in the world, I know, but we made the most of it anyway.

I guess I have to start calling John my husband now?! I've never liked the words "husband" and "wife," but oh well: "boyfriend" sounded pretty infantalizing.

I know my perfume people will be curious: I wore Sweet Redemption. John wore Chergui.

Spontaneous weddings are the only way to get married in my book. That's what we did as well. Most people were OK with it or at least didn't tell me that they felt left out. I did have to explain that I wasn't pregnant for the next year though. Oh, well.

Congratulations, Elisa, on doing it your way and for your own reasons. My husband and I were together for 23 years before we decided to marry. It was a back yard wedding with a Justice of the Peace and about six friends. That was in May, 2004. In the following June, we staged a wedding for family members, at my sister's house, which everyone seemed to enjoy. Trouble is, I can never remember my true anniversary date, because of the "two" weddings. :-D

OMG - Congratulations! You're both beautiful and if it feels as right as it looks, things are good. Bobby and I eloped, too, after three years of living together - it just felt right that the event was about the two of us alone. Some people were hurt, some were pissed (you may not be able to avoid that), but we'd do it that way again a thousand times over.

Well done - best wishes for a long life together filled with much love and laughter.